Sheriff's officials passed the case to the FBI about two weeks ago. FBI officials requested Tuesday that the employees be placed on leave, a standard practice, Scarborough said.

Sheriff David Gutierrez said the alleged incident occurred before he took office in November.

A jail inmate filed a grievance several weeks ago, which administrators referred to the internal affairs officer.

''We investigated it to the point that there may be some criminal wrongdoing,'' Scarborough said. ''At that point we stopped and called in an outside agency.''

FBI agents are reviewing the case without oversight from Sheriff's Office administrators.

''We're stepping back and letting them handle it,'' Scarbor-ough said. ''Whatever they find is where the cards will fall.''

FBI officials were unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Scarborough would not divulge the nature of the complaint, saying facts may have emerged since the FBI took over. But no prisoners were seriously injured, he said.

Gutierrez also declined to discuss the allegations, saying he wants to protect the investigation's integrity.

Once the inquiry is complete, the sheriff said he will make the findings public.

After Gutierrez took office in November, he vowed to raise the department's level of professionalism. He cited as a key step the addition of the department's first internal affairs investigator.

''Under my administration, I intend for officers to operate ethically, professionally and morally. In investigating any complaint under any situation, we will naturally be seeking justice and truth,'' Gutierrez said. ''If we see during any investigation that we need an outside agency, I will personally authorize that.''

Elizabeth Langton can be contacted at 766-8795 or blangton@windmill.net